Shea’s Top 100 Video Games of All Time

100. The Oregon Trail (1971)

Why not start the list with one of the first games I ever played? The Oregon Trail released well before my time, but I spent plenty of hours dying of dysentery in the computer lab at school. This game is probably the reason why I have terrible typing technique — I played it instead of practicing.

99. Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988)

Super Mario Bros. 2 is my least favorite of the original classic Mario games, but it’s hard to ignore how well the platforming still holds up to this day. The game’s origins as a non-Mario game are clear, and it’s just a little too weird and out of the box for my tastes. But any list that doesn’t include the first four Mario games is a bad list, so here we are.

98. Star Fox 64 (1997)

Having not owned an N64 back in the day, my love for Star Fox developed while playing at friends’ houses and years after the fact. There are a fair few Star Fox 64 haters out there, and I get it. The game doesn’t handle perfectly or look all that great — even for its time. But it’s just downright fun to barrel roll around and laugh as Slippy Toad constantly dies.

97. Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald (2002)

I’m looping all three versions of this Pokemon generation into one since they’re all basically the same game. The pokemon introduced in Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald don’t quite hold up to those in Gold, Silver, and Crystal — and certainly not those from the original 151 — but this was still in the early days of Pokemon games where a new roster and new area to explore was more than enough.

96. Mario Kart 8 (2014)

Technically, I played the Deluxe version that released on Switch, but it’s getting harder and harder to separate original releases from HD remasters and definitive editions and whatnot. The game is still the game, and Mario Kart 8 stands up as one of the best Mario Kart games ever made. It’s absolutely gorgeous and handles as well as you could expect. The Battle Mode is even pretty decent.

95. Mass Effect 3 (2012)

I was one of the Mass Effect diehards that were up in arms over the absolute garbage ending to Mass Effect 3 — and apparently, I’m still not 100 percent over it. However, the game plays better than either of its predecessors by a wide margin and still has plenty of amazing story beats to enjoy. Plus, I put well over 400 hours into the co-op multiplayer and loved every second of it.

94. Star Wars Battlefront 2 (2005)

Pay close attention to the year; this is not the recent EA/DICE abomination. The original Star Wars Battlefront sequel added playable hero characters, which is a fun change. I honestly prefer the simplicity of the first game, which is why you’ll see it ranked higher on this list. Galactic Conquest mode is pretty amazing, though.

93. Rock Band 2 (2008)

As a drummer, I went hard on Rock Band and Guitar Hero in high school. I never clicked with the guitar playing as much as I wanted to, but it was still a great time. To me, Rock Band improves on the original Guitar Hero formula, and Rock Band 2 is the best version of that series. It has the best overall track list.

92. Assassin’s Creed Origins (2017)

While games like Assasin’s Creed II, Black Flag, and Odyssey have all iterated on the core Assassin’s Creed formula in great ways, I think Origins is the best overall game in the series. It combines excellent world exploration with great side quests, surprisingly compelling main characters, better combat than ever before, and ship to ship battles that are a fitting story diversion and therefore don’t become repetitive.

91. Metroid Prime (2002)

I do think there are a fair amount of people that look back on Metroid Prime through rose-tinted glasses, but I still consider it a strong entry on this list. The aiming is downright terrible at times, but being able to play as Samus in first-person 3D more than makes up for that fact. The game is more about exploring than shooting, anyway.